


A Storm

by greygerbil



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-16
Updated: 2018-02-16
Packaged: 2019-03-19 08:43:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13700964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greygerbil/pseuds/greygerbil
Summary: Genji and Zenyatta get stuck in a cave during a blizzard, which gives Genji a chance to ask Zenyatta why he is avoiding him.





	A Storm

**Author's Note:**

> For Genyatta Week 2018, Prompt: Snow Day.

“What were you thinking making your way up the road in this weather?!”

Genji stared outside through the opening of the cave. He couldn’t see two feet with the snow that came down, thick flakes swirling in winds harsh enough to blow a man off his feet. All his sensors were blinking alerts for the freezing cold and he could feel it on the leftover patches of his skin under the metal carapace, too, creating a double feed of negative input.

“You must have left the monastery when the storm had already begun in earnest. That was a much worse decision that mine,” Zenyatta argued.

“What was I supposed to do? When you called from down at the village that you would come back this evening, I had to go. I was not going to risk you getting snowed in somewhere on the road, master,” Genji said, exasperated.

Zenyatta was a wise man, but sometimes Genji found himself reminded that he was also seventeen years old and while omnics were born adult as far as the concept held any meaning for them, real experience could not be programmed. Even machine learning was based on masses of information being cross-referenced and compared and after a year together, Genji could say that Zenyatta occasionally displayed a quiet but persistent stubbornness that Genji related to a lack of common sense. Usually, Genji found this either amusing or just mildly irritating, but not when Zenyatta risked himself, as he had done today when he’d guided a group of pilgrims to the base of the mountains in the bad weather and then decided to turn back around and brave the storm alone on the way up.

“Genji, I have lived here for much longer than you. I knew the risks and where to hide if the storm turned worse. Your concern honours you, but it’s entirely unnecessary.”

Genji waved Zenyatta’s argument off and stepped further into the cave. The glowing lights on their mechanical parts made exploration relatively simple, at least, allowing them to be their own light sources. It was still cold further in, but the wind and snow could not reach them.

“I don’t understand why you couldn’t have spent the night at the village,” Genji began because he realised he was not done fighting about this. “The innkeeper likes you a lot.”

“I had promised Sister Arva to help with her meditation practices tonight and I did not want to miss my commitment.”

“Then you shouldn’t have led the pilgrims down to the village in this weather,” Genji reasoned.

“No one else volunteered.”

“They could have stayed at the monastery and waited until morning. Sometimes it’s unreasonable to try to help all the time.”

“If I approached the world with that mindset, you wouldn’t be here at all,” Zenyatta gave back.

It was unmistakably a jab, though Zenyatta spoke as calm as usual, and Genji was surprised at how much it stung. It felt like there was a whispered implication there that, much like the blizzard they were hiding from, Genji’s presence was also an unlucky predicament Zenyatta had gotten stuck in following a benevolent impulse.

He fell into a glum silence as he led them further inside. Zenyatta floated behind him, noiselessly, or at least Genji had thought so. It occurred to him after a few moments that the blue light accompanying his green shine moving along the wet walls of the cave had actually vanished.

“Master?”

“I’m here.”

Zenyatta’s voice echoed behind him. Turning on his heel, Genji jogged back to where the cave tunnel had split into two. Zenyatta had apparently taken interest in the other path, though he was still standing at its entrance and had at least not wandered off on his own.

“Couldn’t you have told me you were hanging back?” Genji groused.

“I stopped for a moment to see if I could make out anything that way so we would know where we are going,” Zenyatta said slowly. “Could you try to compose yourself, Genji? You have gotten rather more attached in a literal sense lately.”

Genji bristled. He would have been fine letting his anger simmer for now, but if Zenyatta wanted to bring in every issue of theirs from the last month or two, then he was not going to listen quietly like he was actually a dumb grammar school pupil.

“Perhaps you think that because you have apparently decided that now that my time as your student is coming to an end, there is no reason to be around me anymore. Was I mistaken in thinking that we were friends beyond the point where I needed you to keep myself alive?”

Genji understood that it was ungrateful to complain that Zenyatta did not pour even more time and effort into their relationship than the copious amount he had already spent even when Genji still used to push him away. However, he couldn’t help but feel like a puzzle, that, solved for the moment, had lost its power to fascinate or perhaps had turned out in some way that Zenyatta was not happy with. His master had directed so much attention towards other students and occupations lately, Genji had barely seen him anymore.

“Of course you weren’t mistaken. It’s not true I’m avoiding you,” Zenyatta said, but his voice wavered a fraction on his second assertion.

“I thought you priced yourself on telling the truth even if it is uncomfortable, master,” Genji said as they trudged along the tunnel together. Zenyatta had unfolded his legs now and was walking next to him, which allowed him to keep up with Genji. “Otherwise I can’t learn, remember?”

“Maybe I would like to spend time learning lessons of my own sometimes,” Zenyatta answered, a note of impatience entering his words.

“I did not mean that-”

Genji found himself cut off by a startled noise of surprise by his master as Zenyatta tumbled forward. Reflexively, Genji reached out and managed to grab his neck and arm and then almost fell with him as Zenyatta’s weight made his toes skid on the ground towards a void. As he yanked them both backwards, a pebble tumbled over the edge. It was ten seconds before he heard it land. Even Zenyatta would not have been able to break that fall with his floatation.

“Aren’t you glad I’m here now?” Genji said, the bitter joke falling a little flat while shock still reverberated through his voice.

“We – we shouldn’t explore paying so little attention,” Zenyatta answered, taken aback. “Thank you.”

Genji dragged him back from the edge of the chasm. He couldn’t see the other side.

They stood in silence for a moment. Still coming down from that blitz of adrenaline, their whole discussion suddenly seemed extremely petty to Genji. Was he not above this kind of bratty possessiveness? He wasn’t twenty-two anymore, spoiled and not used to sharing his toys.

“I’m sorry,” Genji said. “I’m – just sorry.”

“No.” Zenyatta shook his head. “You are just right, my student. But let us first step away from this. I think the path you chose was better after all.”

Genji followed Zenyatta this time until they were back where one tunnel split in two. There, Zenyatta sat down on a flat expanse of stone jutting out from the wall and Genji followed his example.

“What is the matter?” Genji asked and now that he knew he wouldn’t just inspire snide remarks but an actual answer, that there probably was a problem that didn’t only exist in his own imagination, he suddenly felt even more apprehensive.

“I have been trying to distance myself from you.”

“Why?” Genji asked. Though he was happy Zenyatta was talking, having his fears substantiated was not any less painful.

“I noted that since you have become more comfortable with yourself as well as a fully-fledged member of our community, I have not been thinking of you only as a student and friend anymore.” Zenyatta’s voice faltered for a moment before he started anew. “This is why I have been stacking more tasks than I can reasonably tend to, as you have noted. It made it easier to remove myself from you.”

“This sounds bad,” Genji answered, feeling his stomach tighten. What the hell had he done to Zenyatta that he was suddenly running from him?

“It’s not because I’m not fond of you anymore, Genji,” Zenyatta said gently, though he turned his head away from him again quickly, reluctant – almost shy. It was not something Genji had seen him do before. “In fact, there was a day when we were sparring when I realised I was not focused on combat at all, but thinking of – other things.”

“You were distracted?” Genji asked, uncomprehending.

“No,” Zenyatta said, still hesitating. “I was more concentrated on your body’s physicality in ways that had nothing to do with your prowess – or perhaps _a little bit_ to do with it,” he added, with a halting, awkward touch of levity.

Genji had to let that information settle for a moment.

“You… do you want to sleep with me or are you genuinely interested in me?” he asked. Neither option was something he would have ever considered Zenyatta would even think about.

“Sexual attraction seems like a minor crime in comparison to the other possibility, does it not? I’m trying to avoid going down any path of enquiry in my mind that would lead to an answer to the second question, to be honest. Though now that I say it, it sounds like an answer in itself.”

“A little,” Genji said.

They sat in silence for a moment. Of all the reasons why someone might starting acting odd around him, this would have been at the top of the list back in the day, when people still swooned over him and Genji was overflowing with self-confidence. Now, it seemed like a joke, especially from Zenyatta, who seemed so above such concerns.

As Genji had already noted, though, he lacked a proper library of experience to draw from in some areas of life, so maybe it made sense he reacted in a way that was confusing to Genji. Not to pretend many adults with way more experience didn’t do amazingly stupid things in the name of their emotions, either. It was kind of cute, in this light, though Genji still vowed to repay him for all the concern he’d caused him the next time they sparred. Maybe Zenyatta would agree to another match now and the thought that Zenyatta enjoyed being pinned by him woke more interest than displeasure in Genji.

He could see that Zenyatta was uncomfortable, however, from the stiff way he held himself, worried about something that Genji considered a surprise but not a problem.

“Why didn’t you just ask me out?” Genji asked, trying to tap into a mode he’d buried years ago, a teasing charm that relied on a belief in his own attractiveness he’d long lost.

“That would have been inappropriate,” Zenyatta said, looking up.

“How so?”

“I would not want to be called ‘master’ by a person I’m trying to be involved with.”

Genji understood Zenyatta referred to the greater framework of their relationship, but as they both had noted, Genji was not dependant on his help anymore. It was very much like Zenyatta to wait for a sign from Genji it didn’t bother him, though.

“If that is all that stands in the way of it… I think that’s an easy problem to fix, Zenyatta,” Genji answered.

They looked at each other, Zenyatta with his unmovable face and Genji’s hidden behind his faceplate. He was smiling and he had a feeling Zenyatta knew it and would have, too, if he could have.


End file.
